Acute choroidal ischemia as a complication of photocoagulation
M. H. Goldbaum, S. O. Galinos, D. Apple, G. K. Asdourian, K. Nagpal, L. Jampol, M. B. Woolf and B. Busse
Acute choroidal vascular insufficiency as a complication of
photocoagulation has been little noticed. In 17 eyes of 16 patients
photocoagulated with either xenon or argon sources for proliferative sickle
cell retinopathy, gray lesions of the fundus developed peripheral to the
photocoagulation sites. Histologic examination of similar gray lesions
produced in monkeys showed necrosis and atrophy of the outer half of the
retina. Intense photocoagulation of the human fundus, even with smaller
spot sizes, may occlude a choroidal artery, producing separate gray lesions
of distinctive shape. The lesions in both the patients and the monkeys
progressed to granular hyperpigmentation by two to three weeks after
photocoagulation.
